Greed is Good, Darkness is Light...

This week, Congress is set to extend some $70 billion in tax cuts on investment income. According to independent analysis, the tax cuts will save Americans in the middle of the income distribution about $20 a year. Americans in the top 1% of income earners, however, will save about $42,000 a year. In other words, the cuts provide a windfall to a group of people who do not need a windfall all at the expense of the national deficit. Asked about the cuts, Treasury Secretary Tower Snow stated, "Since Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980, it has been a point of orthodoxy that tax cuts for the wealthy spur the economy as a whole. While there is no objective evidence for this idea, we have been successful in convincing most Americans to accept it. Well, you can see the appeal. Its like saying you can be more generous by being more selfish. When you have that kind of win-win folks tend to ignore evidence to the contrary."